This invention relates to terminations for multiconductor cables having interspersed, substantially co-planar, signal and ground conductors. The invention also relates to methods and apparatus for making such terminations.
One type of electrical cable frequently employed in modern electronic equipment such as computers is a planar or ribbon cable having a plurality of parallel, laterally spaced, co-planar signal wires interspersed with ground wires. There may be one ground wire between each laterally adjacent pair of signal wires, or there may be two or more ground wires between each pair of signal wires. The ground wires are co-planar with the signal wires. Each signal wire is electrically insulated from the adjacent ground wires, as well as from all of the other signal wires. The signal wires typically carry the useful electrical signals in the associated electronic apparatus. The ground wires are provided to allow increased signal transmission rates, to reduce interference between the signal wires, etc. Cables of this type are sometimes known as signal line transmission or SLT cables, and that designation will sometimes be employed herein.
SLT cables are typically relatively small. For example, an SLT cable having 20 signal wires, each separated from each adjacent signal wire by two ground wires, may be only approximately one inch wide. In order to terminate such cables (i.e., connect the cable to other apparatus), the many closely spaced signal and ground wires must be separated from one another and mechanically and electrically connected to other circuit elements. This is a difficult, tedious, and time-consuming task which is also subject to error. Methods and apparatus which have been devised to facilitate this process are relatively complex and expensive.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide improved terminations for SLT cables.
It is another object of this invention to provide improved and simplified methods and apparatus for making SLT cable terminations.